360째 Preparation for Starting University
WELCOME TO THE
StudentLinkupSessions Over the last decade Fusion has prepared tens of thousands of students for their university years. These sessions are designed to help you lay the very best foundation for your time at university and think about who you want to be, how you want to live and what you want to achieve. The university years are to be treasured and enjoyed. They are an opportunity to learn and explore many new things and they will help determine the course of your life. The Student Linkup sessions cover four themes:
UNIVERSITY - THE START Session one begins to address all the questions someone starting university asks and explores wise advice to combat anxieties and build confidence.
UNIVERSITY - THE CULTURE Session two lifts the lid on student culture so you can get involved with your eyes wide open and be confident in facing the challenges and opportunities.
UNIVERSITY - THE OPPORTUNITIES Session three explores the need to choose wisely what you do with your time and which of the vast array of opportunities you could invest in.
THE STUDENT LINKUP SESSIONS
UNIVERSITY - THE LEGACY Session four helps you see your university years in the context of your whole life and how they can be foundational for you and for others.
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OUR HOPE. Our hope is that as you work through them on your own, with a friend or in a group, you will feel prepared in every way for the adventure of university life.
OUR PRAYER. Our prayer is that by the end of the sessions you will be confident that God is with you, his hand is on your life and that you will be convinced that life with God at university is the ultimate adventure.
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THE STUDENT LINKUP SESSIONS
You are going to be starting university soon and for many people this is the biggest transition of their life so far. It is a huge investment of time and money so taking some time to prepare as fully as possible makes sense. Everyone approaches starting university differently so it is important not to compare yourself with others and to feel free to be really honest with your thoughts and feelings. There are no right or wrong answers, but there is lots of wisdom and insight to be gained. We also believe that God will speak to you and highlight things, so be as open and vulnerable as you dare with God and one another.
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SESSION 1: UNIVERSITY - THE START
SESSION 1: UNIVERSITY THE START
ACTION Circle the words that best describe how you feel about starting university:
anxious, excited, free, expectant, confused, uncertain, ready, scared, nervous, challenged
QUESTIONS What are you looking forward to about starting university?
What are you unsure about?
Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character
THE STUDENT LINKUP SESSIONS
and ready for anything. (James 1:2-4 NLT)
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1. Be Ready Great adventures demand thorough preparation and for most people, starting university for the first time marks the beginning of a great adventure. Adventures are full of challenges and opportunities and it is time get ready. It is a fantastic time in history to go to university. It’s fun, it’s frantic and it’s full to the brim with possibility. It helps to prepare and be ready, because although three years sounds like a long time it will be over all too quickly. You will probably only get one shot at it so you want to make the most of it!
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Be available: Pray simply - ‘Dear God, please use me, Amen’. Dare to pray this simple prayer to God that you are available to be used by Him whilst at university. This cultivates a sense of calling for the season ahead and that university will be more than a few exams and a good time. Know also that you are the answer to many people’s prayers. Churches up and down the UK are eagerly awaiting your arrival and are praying for you.
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Be imaginative: Dream with God. God’s desire is for you to live life to the full at university and the way to do that is by knowing God is both with you and for you in every situation. God has a dream for your life and he also has a dream for everyone you meet. Spend some time before you arrive imagining the sort of person you want to be at university, dream with God about all that lies ahead. You might do this through chatting with friends, praying by yourself or maybe writing in a journal.
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Be open: Expect to change. Many people blossom in confidence and maturity during their university years. However, it helps if you are aspiring to grow and change. The ‘rite of passage’ that university naturally provides means that you can change wrong perceptions you have about yourself, or that you have grown up with, that don’t fit with who God says you are. Through being open to God and others, expect to change, expect to grow up, enjoy the process and who you are becoming.
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Be proactive: Contact churches in your university town or city. 73% of Christian school leavers don’t connect with church whilst at university. Church is the most important community that you can be part of and so it is worth devoting some time to it before you go. 1
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SESSION 1: UNIVERSITY - THE START
HOW TO BE READY
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Be inquisitive: Chat to some current students. If you haven’t started already, it is time to quiz people you know about their time at university; the lessons the learned, the things they are really pleased they did, the things they wish they had avoided and what advice they’d offer to you.
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Be resourced: Get hold of Fusion’s Student Linkup box that goes into detail about life at university and provides connections with churches (www.fusion uk.com/resources). Consider reading the books that are recommended at the end of each of these sessions to gain the fullest insights into yourself and what life at university is like.
ACTION Spend some time reflecting on how you can be better prepared for university. Write down three things that you need to do before you go. 1. 2. 3.
2. Be Yourself Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
THE STUDENT LINKUP SESSIONS
(Romans 12:2 NLT) The most important question you should ask before you start university is “who am I going to be?” Going away to university provides a great opportunity to get to know people free from the preconceptions you’ve carried since playgroup. You can ditch the nickname attributed in year six after the unfortunate incident with the marker pen, and no one knows which social group you belonged to in school.
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It seems that, broadly speaking, most schools are home to three groups: the really uncool group at the bottom of the social pile, the very cool kids at the top and the ‘inbetweeners’. The great thing about university is that when you arrive everyone gets mixed up and starts on the same page. The people who didn’t really have any friends at school suddenly find it’s okay to ask questions in lectures, be clever, and actually make loads of friends. Others suddenly find themselves feeling insecure. Some of the people who were really popular at school find that the close group of friends they’ve had for years aren’t around anymore. They start to wonder who they really are and where they fit in. We can’t encourage you enough to think about who you really are, what you believe and why you believe it before you start university, because you may find yourself questioning parts of your life that you’ve taken for granted so far. You might find that your relationship with God has been carried along by the familiar routines of church on Sunday, youth groups and mates. You need to be active and make good decisions to keep your faith growing at university. 73% of Christian school leavers don’t get involved with any form of Christian activity at university. God is put on hold and this generally continues post graduation and into life beyond. At university there’s no one to wake you up on Sunday morning, so you need your own conviction for why it is important to be part of a church community. You’ll have no problem getting served in the Student Union bar and there’s no one to avoid waking up when you get home late. So why don’t Christians get drunk? Think about the reasons behind our actions, rather than it just being another rule or something Christians just ‘don’t do’. If no sex before marriage is just a rule, it’ll be a lot harder to follow when someone you really like invites you back to their place for a ‘coffee’ and no one is waiting up for you. As followers of Jesus, there are many distinctive characteristics that set us apart just through us being ourselves and knowing why we hold our convictions.
QUESTIONS SESSION 1: UNIVERSITY - THE START
What things do you want to hold on to as you go to university?
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What might you want to leave behind?
What does it mean for you to be yourself?
3. Be Church All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27) Church works best when we recognise that we don’t go to church, we are the church. The Apostle Paul describes us as a body where we all have a part to play. Finding a local church community at university that is right for you is a number one priority.
FINDING A CHURCH COMMUNITY THE STUDENT LINKUP SESSIONS
We can choose churches like we choose universities, picking a place where we can thrive and grow, a place where we can learn, a place where we can get stuck in and become a part of the community. The church is a family, which means that it’s also somewhere we serve and help to shape. Throughout our lives the church will be there to support, teach, challenge and be a community you can invite others into. This is the time to work out what it looks like to be an adult member of a church family. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to do that by just turning up on a Sunday, consuming and then walking away - Church is a community, not a weekly meeting. So how do you find a church?
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QUESTIONS Here are some questions which will help you make wise decisions about which church to choose. - - - -
Is this a church where I can get involved and feel welcome? Is this a church that will challenge me in my faith? Is this a church that will encourage and help me to share my faith with my friends? God, where do you want me to be whilst I’m at university?
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Download the Student Linkup app Student Linkup will connect you to churches near your university. It will help you to see what churches are nearby, what they’re like and who to connect with there. Use the app and the Fusion website to research the churches near your university. Churches will also use it to contact you before you even leave home! Available in the App or Play store, or online at: www.studentlinkup.org
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Shortlist two or three churches to visit If you visit a different church each week, your first term will be over quickly and every Sunday will have been spent visiting places you were realistically never going to commit to. Shortlist some to visit, visit them in the first few weeks of term (or even better, visit before term!) and then commit to one.
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Expect to be surprised Whether it’s the shock that everyone no longer knows your name, there’s songs you’ve never sung before or just how friendly these strangers are, prepare to be surprised by your church experience at university. No church is a carbon copy of another and here’s another opportunity for you to experience something new and step out in faith that God will provide for you through an uncertain transition.
4. Commit No church is perfect. There will always be something you wish was done differently but commit to a church family and get stuck in by serving them – it’s the best way to meet people and feel like you belong.
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SESSION 1: UNIVERSITY - THE START
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